Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce.

Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot. “There are exceptions — honey — but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren’t food,” Pollan says.

It is not just what you eat but how you eat. “Always leave the table a little hungry,” Pollan says. “Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, ‘Tie off the sack before it’s full.'”

Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It’s a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. “Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?” Pollan asks.

Don’t buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

Michael Pollan has a new book being released tomorrow called Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual . Some quotes from the book were shared in the PD article. These are the ones that I particularly liked:

“Make water your beverage of choice”

“The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead”

“If you aren’t hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re probably not hungry”

Michael Pollan advocates that if we allow ourselves to enjoy real food, we will be healthier. I can do that!